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North Vision Song Contest
| label6 = Original language(s) | data6 = English and French | header7 = Production | label8 = Location(s) | data8 = Various | label9 = Running time | data9 = Various (about one month) | label10 = Production company(s) | data10 = NBU | header11 = Broadcast | label12 = Original run | data12 = 19 March 2013 – present | header13 = Chronology | label14 = Related shows | data14 = North Vision in Concert Kid's North Vision | header15 = External links | below = }} The North Vision Song Contest, often shortened NVSC, or NorthVision, is a song contest on Youtube held among the members of the North Broadcasting Union since March 2013 and is inspired by the Eurovision Song Contest. The current and official NVSC executive supervisor is Jan Simonis. Each country's head of delegation gets to select an entry for each edition either by internal or national selection. Then the countries get to vote for each show (pre-qualifying round, semi-final or final) to determine the qualifiers and the winner of the edition. So far, seven different countries have won the competition and therefore hosted the contest. Apart from Hungary, who hosted due to being the organizer of the contest, Iceland, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Lebanon, the United Kingdom and Bosnia and Herzegovina have all been winners and hosts of the contest. __TOC__ History .]] On 20th March 2013, James Davenport, former executive supervisor of the North Broadcasting Union decided to open an international music contest, in that every full member of the NBU can take part by sending artists representing their countries with songs. It was called North Vision Song Contest. The name was inspired by the Northern Hemisphere in that all the NBU countries were at that time. In the beginnings the contest was not fully developed so there were a lot of rule changes in that phase. The first ever North Vision Song Contest started on 24th April 2013. It was held in the capital city of Hungary which also was the first ever country to host the North Vision Song Contest and also the first ever automatical qualifier for the Grand Final. 41 nations were taking part in NVSC 01 each submitting one entry to the contest. Each country awarded 12 points to their favourite, 10 points to their second favourite and then 8 points to 1 point for the rest. Each country is free to either hold a Televote only, a Jury Voting only or both at the same time which combined make up the voting they will submit. The voting procedure has not changed since then. Iceland was the first ever country to win the contest. The winner is traditionally set to be the host of the following North Vision edition. Currently, the NBU Council has the control over the contest, and its members work in different terms of the contest, like recaps, staging, results videos and websites. Participation Any full member of the NBU is allowed to send a song for the North Vision Song Contest. Countries that are not full members can apply for becoming one. The North Broadcasting Union has already accepted some countries that were not full members of the NBU at the beginnings of the NVSC. But the NBU has also already declined a lot of nations and states that wanted to become a full member - and to participate in the North Vision Song Contest. Each full member has got a certain broadcaster that is responsible for the choice of the artists and songs the country is sending for each edition. Fifty two countries have participated at least once. These are listed here alongside the edition in which they made their debut: Format The contest's format was the same during the first editions; two semi-finals and a final were held. The top ten scored countries from each semi-final advanced to the final. In the first edition, there was a big 3 that were the sponsors for the start of the contest and were automatic qualifiers; Austria, Hungary and Sweden. However, for the next editions, the big 3 would change to big 5 and the top 5 from each edition will be a part of the big 5. As more countries joined the contest, the more changes the NBU made to the contest. In the eighth edition the pre-qualifying round was introduced in order to minimize the number of the participants in the semi-finals and maximize the chances of qualification from the final. The pre-qualifying round included the bottom 5 from each semi-final of the last edition, making it a total of ten countries competing. The countries had to submit a song for the round and the top 2 countries would qualify to the contest with the selected song. Since the very first edition the winning country of each edition is automatically chosen to be the host of the next edition. As the host broadcaster, the heads of delegation can decide how and when they want to host the competition, present the logo, make a theme song and other things. However if a broadcaster cannot afford to host the competition, the runner-up or the NBU council will help out. The show would still be hosted in the winning country. The "Big 3" / "Big 5" In the first edition, it was already decided that certain countries would be members of the "group" called "Big 3". The Hungarian broadcaster, the organizers of the first edition, announced that Austria, Sweden and Hungary would be the members of the first big 3 saying that the two countries contributed in the organization of the contest. However, as with this statement most of the broadcasters complained, the organizers decided that the big 3, later renamed to big 5, would be chosen according the public which led them to change the big 5 members to the top 5 placed countries of the previous edition indicating a different big 5 in each edition. Members of the big 5 through the editions have been several, including Denmark, France, FYR Macedonia, Hungary, Sweden and Ukraine that have been in the big 5 for more than three editions with Sweden currently holding the record of being in the big 5 five times. The best place for a big 5 member was the second place, achieved by Denmark in the second edition, France in the fourth and fifth edition and the United Kingdom in the seventh edition. Ukraine holds the record for being a member of the big 5 for three editions in a row. Rules There are several rules of the contest in order to enter. Main rule of the contest is that the country has to officially join the NBU with a certain broadcaster before applying to enter the contest. Regarding the broadcaster, any broadcaster can be accepted by the NBU if it consists the qualifications of it. The head of delegation of the certain country must be at the position for at least three editions. If the head of delegation is not satisfied with the country, one can swap the countries with other users. This rule repeats then. Entries Entries can be either selected by a national selection or internally. However, if the broadcaster decides to internally select their entry, the song should not be revealed immediately. After an internal selection of the artist, the song should be revealed about one week later. However, some exceptions can be made. Songs can not be presented before the official open of submission for the entire contest. If the rule becomes broken, the entry has to be changed and is not allowed to participate for 2 editions after. The selected song must be published after 2000. Covers or samples are not allowed to enter. Parodies are not allowed to enter either, unless they does not sound like the original. Eurovision songs cannot participate, exceptions are being made if the song had entered NVSC before ESC. The selected entrant must be aged 16 at least on the day the song was officially published or leaked. Musicians that have only roots from the country they get chosen for cannot be selected internally. They have to be selected in a national selection with at least 9 other native artists. The five micro states (Andorra, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and San Marino) are allowed to borrow from their bigger neighbors even without a National Selection. National selections The broadcaster has the opportunity to fully decide how his national selection will be held. The amount of the songs, artists and the format of the show can be chosen by the broadcaster. The only rule applied to the selection's entries is that the artists must be native to the country. However, foreign artist can be added if there are at least 9 other artists in the selection that are native to the country the national selection is hosted for. After this time, the song can again enter the selection, or be chosen internally for the contest. If a song competes in a national selection, it cannot compete or represent another country with that song for 2 editions. Switzerland and Malta had a different status on this rule: those two countries can add 50% foreign artists to their national selections which was later removed by the NBU. Borrowing countries As mentioned above, the micro states can borrow from their neighbour countries. Additionally, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus and Montenegro can also borrow from neighbour countries. It was also decided that generally, all the borrowed songs must have not entered the top 100 charts in any country. The following list shows the countries that can borrow and the countries that they can borrow from. Every edition * Andorra from Spain * Faroe Islands from Denmark * Liechtenstein from Austria and Switzerland * Luxembourg from Belgium * Monaco from France * San Marino from Italy Once every five editions * Bosnia and Herzegovina from Serbia * Montenegro from Serbia * Cyprus from Greece (and vice-versa) Strikes and banning The NBU has set several rules that in case they are broken by a country of the contest, the country receives a strike or is immediately banned depending on the rule that was broken. The broadcaster of the country gets one strike for not sending an entry or the votes on time and for cheating in the country's national selection. If the broadcaster gets three strikes, the country is suspended for one edition and can return to the contest with other broadcaster if needed. However, if the broadcaster cheats on voting, the country is immediately banned without three strikes needed. There have been given several strikes and bannings. However, most notable is the suspension of the Armenian and Kazak broadcasters from the sixth edition with the latter being forced to change broadcaster. During the eighth edition it was found out that the Croatian, the Georgian, the Montenegrin and the Moroccan broadcasters had been cheating since the first edition. The countries were suspended from the ninth edition. North Vision season North Vision season is a term often used to refer to the days "around" the contest. It usually lasts a month and the most national selections held that time. Also, various events are hosted during the season like parties or press conferences. North Vision in Concert North Vision in Concert, the concert created by the ex-Head of Delegation of Spain and current Lebanese HoD, Selvin Reyes, is an event held during the North Vision season. Every nation that is participating in the current has the right to take part unless their entry is not selected before the deadline which is decided by the host of the concert. The host was since the second concert selected through a poll. Rehearsals and press conferences There are two rehearsal periods for each country. The countries taking part in the semi-finals have their first rehearsal over four days from the first Sunday to Wednesday. The second is from Thursday to Sunday. The countries which have already directly qualified for the Grand Final rehearse on the Saturday and Sunday. After each country has rehearsed, the delegation meets with the show's artistic director in the video viewing room. Here, they watch the footage of the rehearsal just performed, discussing camera angles, lighting and choreography, in order to try to achieve maximum æsthetic effect on television. At this point the Head of Delegation may make known any special requirements needed for the performance, and request them from the host broadcaster. Following this meeting, the delegation hold a press conference where members of the accredited press may pose them questions. The rehearsals and press conferences are held in parallel; so one country holds its press conference, while the next one is in the auditorium rehearsing. A printed summary of the questions and answers which emerge from the press conferences is produced by the host press office, and distributed to journalists' pigeon-holes. Before each of the semi-finals three dress rehearsals are held. Two rehearsals are held the day before (one in the afternoon and the other in the evening), while the third is held on the afternoon of the live event. Since tickets to the live shows are often scarce, tickets are also sold in order that the public may attend these dress rehearsals. The same applies for the final, with two rehearsals on the Friday and the third on Saturday afternoon before the live transmission of the grand final on Saturday evening. For both semi-finals and for the final, the second dress rehearsal is also the Jury Final, this is where the jury from each country casts their votes. This means that 50% of the result is already decided before the live contests have taken place. Sneak peeks and betting odds Aproximately two weeks before the semi-finals, the host broadcaster uploads six or seven sneak peeks. The countries are usually divided according their geographical place like the pots for the semi-final allocation draw. Most of the participating nations open a poll on the broadcaster's site and let people vote for their favorite in each sneak peek. The betting odds are mostly based on the nations' average result for each sneak peek. The betting odds were introduced in the third and edition and so far has predicted one winner right, Denmark in the fourth edition. Most of the betting odds' top 10–15 had similar result in the contest. North Vision Awards The North Vision Awards are music awards of the contest that honor songs or singers of the edition on certain categories. They were first introduced as the After-show awards and were unofficially held in the fourth edition and officially in the fifth edition. They are planned to be held in the seventh edition as the North Vision Awards with new and more categories. Voting The voting system was since the first edition the same. Countries award a set of points from 1 to 8, then 10 and finally 12 to other songs in the competition — with the favourite song being awarded 12 points. Since the first edition the voting has been presided over by the NBU scrutineer, who is responsible for ensuring that all points are allocated correctly and in turn. The following are the scrutineers and Executive Supervisors of the North Vision Song Contest appointed by the NBU; * James Davenport (01–03) * Jan Simonis (04–present) * Dimitris Ioannou (05, 07) Presentation of votes Since the first edition, all the countries have been voting in the final–finalists or not. The order of the voting nations are often randomly. After the interval act is over, when all the points have been calculated, the presenter(s) of the show call upon each voting country in turn to invite them to announce the results of their vote. Often the opportunity is taken by each country to show their spokesperson standing in front of a backdrop which includes a famous place in that country. Traditionally, the results were made in a Scorewiz–themed scoreboard with the countries announcing one by one point. Since the fourth edition, the scoreboard has taken a different format. Firstly, the points 1–7 are shown together and the spokesperson continues with the high points, the top 3; 8, 10 and 12. The song which receives the 12 from the country is usually played along with a bar below showing the top 3 at that moment. Winners The contest has so far seven different winning countries with three of them being Nordic countries (Denmark, Iceland and Sweden). All the winners have so far been female artists excluding the winner of the fourth edition, Amaranthe that has both female and male lead singers. The runner-ups have had two countries geting the place twice; Denmark, the runner-up of the first and second editions and France, the runner-up of the third, fourth and fifth edition. In the seventh edition, the United Kingdom finished as runner-up setting a new record for the host country's place, previously held by Denmark with the thirteenth place. Switzerland's winning entry currently helds two records: for the highest scoring winner and for the biggest margin between the winner and the runner-up. Spin-offs A number of spin-offs and imitators of the North Vision Song Contest have been produced, some national and other international. Similar competitions that are still held, include: * Kid's North Vision (2013–present), for European artists under the age of 16. * East Vision Song Contest (2013–present), for Asian and Oceanian countries. * Africa Vision Song Contest (2013–present), for African countries. * Nordisk Melodi Grand Prix (2014–present), for Nordic countries. Similar competitions that are no longer held, include: * West Vision Song Contest (2013), for American countries. * Asia Vision Song Contest (2013), for Asian countries. External links *Official Website *Youtube Channel *Official Channel *Forums Category:Contests Category:North Vision Song Contest